The El Cajas Lagoon

Deep in the Andes Mountains, in the south of Ecuador, there lies the beautiful El Cajas lagoon, nestled deep in the middle of a National Park. But the local elders recall that long ago there was a large farmstead standing there instead. The rich man who owned it had a big house, and vast fields and meadows, where many peasants worked day and night.

One day, in the scorching midday sun, an old man and a woman, both wrinkled, knocked at the rich man’s door. Knackered from the long journey, they were relieved to see the beautiful house, as they were too old and tired to carry on. They were hoping to have a little rest in the farmstead, just until they regained their strength.

The rich family was just eating lunch when they heard the knocking. The children arrived at the door first, curious who it might be.

“Hello, we have travelled far and we were hoping you could give us a little water and a place to rest our weary bones for a while,” said the old man humbly as soon as he saw the master of the house. But the rich man didn’t see a single reason to help anyone. He growled at the housemaid to immediately see the two pilgrims off his property. Even the kids just smirked at the ragged travellers before quickly returning to finish their meal.

But the housemaid took pity on the wanderers when she saw that they could barely move their legs. She offered them a little room in the stables where they could lie down in the hay and get some rest. Although the neighing horses made for quite loud company, it was cool inside and the hay was soft. The housemaid ran off to…